Pipefitters win $4.7 million in Hanford case

YAKIMA – A Benton County jury on Friday awarded more than $4.7 million in damages to 11 pipefitters who sued a contractor at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, saying they were fired for speaking up about safety concerns.

The workers filed suit six years ago against Fluor Federal Services, a contractor at the site. Appeals had delayed the trial.

In 1997, a crew of seven pipefitters objected when they were told to install a valve rated for 1,975 pounds per square inch for a test of radioactive waste pipes that would need to withstand 2,235 pounds per square inch.

The crew was later laid off, but a settlement was reached that required Fluor Federal Services to rehire them.

In opening statements, plaintiffs’ attorneys contended that foremen on the job were told they would have to lay off seven other pipefitters to bring the first seven back. Attorneys for Fluor Federal Services countered that there simply was not enough work at the Hanford site for all of the pipefitters.

Damages awarded by the Superior Court jury work out to more than $432,000 for each plaintiff.

The workers were gratified by the ruling, but dismayed that it took as long as it did, said Tom Carpenter, director of the nuclear oversight program for the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower group. The group filed the lawsuit on the workers’ behalf.

“This was a definitive, very clear-cut victory for whistleblowers and for employees at Hanford who raise safety concerns,” Carpenter said.

Randy Squires, an attorney for Fluor Federal Services, said the verdict was disappointing and that his client would consider an appeal.

“You can’t possibly have an outcome like this and not at least consider it,” Squires said.

“You can, on the one hand, respect the jury’s effort here, and on the other, continue to disagree with it. I believe that’s Fluor’s view. The company’s view is that it did not retaliate … Having said that, the jury has spoken.”

The pipefitters had been seeking lost wages, more than $100,000 in some cases. All but one sought damages for emotional distress.

The trial began July 21. The case went to the jury last week.

The valve that was to have been installed was located in Hanford’s so-called tank farms, which hold 53 million gallons of highly radioactive waste left from Cold War-era nuclear weapons production. Some of the 177 aging, underground tanks are known to have leaked, threatening groundwater and the Columbia River less than 10 miles away.